X-ray

Definitions

nX-raya radiogram made by exposing photographic film to X rays; used in medical diagnosis

nX-rayelectromagnetic radiation of short wavelength produced when high-speed electrons strike a solid target

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Additional illustrations & photos:

Edison's X-ray machine

X-ray machine in use

X-ray focus tube

X-ray apparatus used to look inside skull

Scanning the torso with X-ray machine

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

Interesting fact:
It took Leonardo Da Vinci 10 years to paint Mona Lisa. He never signed or dated the painting. Leonardo and Mona had identical bone structures according to the painting. X-ray images have shown that there are 3 other versions under the original.

nX-rayĕks"rā`(Physics) originally, any of the rays produced when cathode rays strike upon surface of a solid (as a copper target or the wall of the vacuum tube); now defined as electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength of 0.1 to 10 nanometers. X-rays are noted for their penetration of many opaque substances, as wood and flesh, their action on photographic plates, and their fluorescent effects. They were called X rays by their discoverer, W. K. Röntgen, but were also referred to for some time as Roentgen rays. The term X-ray has become the most common designation. They also ionize gases, but cannot be reflected, or polarized, or deflected by a magnetic field. They are used in examining objects opaque to visible light, as for imaging bones or other structures inside the human body, and for detecting flaws in metal objects, such as in welds.

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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

Interesting fact:
When the X-ray was discovered, a law in New Jersey was written forbidding the use of "X-ray opera glasses."

nX-raySee ray.

X-rayTo take a radiograph of; apply X-rays to the study of (an object, such as a portion of the human body).

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Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

so called by its discoverer because of its enigmatical character, x being an algebraic symbol for an unknown quantity

Usage

In literature:

There was a lot of scientific equipment on the list, including an X-ray machine.

"Little Fuzzy" by Henry Beam Piper

We have found that bodies are opaque only to certain rays; the X-ray sees through this too too solid flesh.

"The Breath of Life" by John Burroughs

Like light, odour has its X-rays.

"Social Life in the Insect World" by J. H. Fabre

Curie and her daughter are in charge of the X-ray apparatus at the hospital.

"My War Experiences in Two Continents" by Sarah Macnaughtan

The "X-rays" of light we cannot see, because our ancestors could not deal with them.

"The Story of the Innumerable Company, and Other Sketches" by David Starr Jordan

These accounts of the wonders of modern science tell of liquid air, wireless telegraphy, X-Ray photography, and other marvels.

"A Mother's List of Books for Children" by Gertrude Weld Arnold

He wanted to tie me up and shoot me with an X-ray.

"The Wit and Humor of America, Volume VI. (of X.)" by Various

X-Ray, treatment and diagnosis, IV, 652.

"The Eugenic Marriage, Volume I. (of IV.)" by W. Grant Hague, M.D.

I have X rays in my eyes.

"The Farringdons" by Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler

But we have examined hundreds of ruptures under the searching X-rays.

"Cluthe's Advice to the Ruptured" by Chas. Cluthe & Sons

Twelve Plates from Photographs of X Ray Work.

"The Dyeing of Woollen Fabrics" by Franklin Beech

I was at the lab all day with Marina and Tabio's X-rays.

"The Five Arrows" by Allan Chase

We proceeded then to put the good, appetizing food where nothing short of an X-ray could inspect.

"At Boarding School with the Tucker Twins" by Nell Speed

His friend knew that he was running a risk with the X rays.

"My Little Sister" by Elizabeth Robins

Our X-ray tube appeared to be arranged for the amusement of fashionable folk.

"Autobiography of an Electron" by Charles R. (Charles Robert) Gibson

Ray, the wife of X 407, alias X 407-a, is now in Providence, Rhode Island, in a house of prostitution.

"Commercialized Prostitution in New York City" by George Jackson Kneeland

The X-Ray enables us to see through solid bodies.

"What and Where is God?" by Richard La Rue Swain

I saw that it had something of the quality of the X-ray.

"A Book of Ghosts" by Sabine Baring-Gould

Photography itself is on the side of illusion; but caricature has X-rays for the deformed fact.

The 48-year-old victim told cops he was discussing haircuts with a fellow X-ray technician at New York Methodist Hospital near Seventh Avenue at 6:30 pm when a third employee overheard, got offended, and shoved him into a chair.

In science:

The X-ray continuum of Vela X-1 has been studied extensively in X-rays.

The Ionized Stellar Wind in Vela X-1 During Eclipse

The compatibility of the X-ray and γ -ray spectra of SN 1006 supports our notion of an inverse Compton origin of the γ -rays. A con ﬁrmation would require the observation of corresponding curvature in the X-ray and TeV γ -ray spectra, though.

The maxima in the count rates in γ -rays and in X-rays apparently coincide, though the X-ray detector had a dropout at the time of the peak in γ -rays.

Gamma-ray astronomy

In case (a) the X-ray beams are wider than the radio beams, therefore, when the line of sight sweeps across the both radio beams (to reproduce the main pulse and the interpulse) it would sweep across the both X-ray beams either, and hence gives double X-ray pulse, which is inconsistent with the observation.

Possible evidence for the pulsed X-ray emission from outer gap in PSR B1937+21?

In this paper, we discuss our analysis of the XMMNewton observation in the X-ray (0.1-15 keV) bands (Sect. 2), accounting for the presence of a nearby ob ject in the pre-supernova X-ray ﬁeld, observed earlier by the Chandra X-ray Observatory (Sect. 2.1).

The nature of the prompt X-ray and radio emission from SN2002ap

The ratio RX/γ can be estimated from the few events observed in both the X-ray and gamma-ray band, or, using the larger BATSE sample, by extrapolating the measured spectrum into the X-ray band.

Fast X-ray Transients and Their Connection to Gamma-Ray Bursts

We use archival measurements of the X-ray and gamma-ray ﬂuences for 134 GRB to estimate the distribution of the X-ray to gamma-ray ratio.

Fast X-ray Transients and Their Connection to Gamma-Ray Bursts

There remains room for the discovery of new types of sources that produce fast X-ray transients, but we certainly cannot yet conﬁrm the existence of new classes like “gamma-ray quiet GRBs” or “superﬂares” at normal stars. A large uniform dataset from a dedicated, sensitive wide-ﬁeld X-ray experiment (see e.g.

Fast X-ray Transients and Their Connection to Gamma-Ray Bursts

While X-ray emission from the disk as a whole is excluded by the X-ray light curve of OY Car, which limits much of the X-ray emission to the immediate vicinity of the white dwarf (Ramsay et al. 2001), the boundary layer is likely to be magnetically dominated.

Chandra Observations of the Dwarf Nova WX Hyi in Quiescence

Observations of Mrk 421 at TeV energies with the Whipple telescope and at X-ray wavelengths with the BeppoSAX satellite, established the ﬁrst hour-scale correlations between X-rays and gamma rays in a blazar.

TeV Gamma-ray Observations and the Origin of Cosmic Rays: I

Soft X-ray transients (SXTs) are an important class of low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). A characteristic property of SXTs is that their luminosity is generally below the detection limit of most X-ray telescopes.

In this chapter we discuss the recent X-ray monitoring campaigns we performed (using the X-ray satellites Chandra and XMM-Newton) to study several quasi-persistent neutron-star X-ray transients in their quiescent states.